{"id":3914,"date":"2012-05-17T08:44:37","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T15:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?p=3914"},"modified":"2012-05-17T08:55:10","modified_gmt":"2012-05-17T15:55:10","slug":"mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

<\/a>A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook<\/a> letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental Health\u00a0Awareness\u00a0Month<\/a>, I \u201csat down\u201d and asked her a few questions about herself, her nephew and the Justice for Jeremy Project<\/a>.\u00a0Here are her responses:<\/p>\n

Who is Connie Lum Perez?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By profession, I\u2019m an early childhood educator with more than 30 years\u00a0experience. My day job as a preschool owner\/director is very rewarding and gives\u00a0me opportunities to impact young lives in the best possible way every day. Even\u00a0the youngest of children learn lessons in compassion, humanity, and acceptance.\u00a0These are my most favorite lessons to teach. Besides, working with children is\u00a0good therapy.<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019ve always been an optimist. I try to find the best in any given\u00a0situation or person. Even in the worst of situations, I look for the glimmer of hope.\u00a0I am forever the optimist and very rarely ever give up.<\/p>\n

What is the JUSTICE FOR JEREMY project and how did you become involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My nephew, Jeremy Lum was smart, athletic, and an inspiration to his family and friends. In 2009, at age 29, he was looking forward to a new career as a traveling nurse. He had\u00a0finished his studies at UC Berkeley and decided that as a traveling nurse, it would\u00a0be his way to see the world while at the same time, do worthwhile work.\u00a0Jeremy was 25 years old and a student at Cal when he was diagnosed\u00a0with Bipolar Disorder. \u00a0This condition, historically called Manic Depressive\u00a0Disorder, typically develops in young adulthood. It is a mood disorder\u00a0characterized by extreme highs and lows. There may also be psychotic breaks or episodes.<\/p>\n

It was while Jeremy was in an episode, that he was mistakenly\u00a0arrested and jailed for public intoxication. Even after telling the officer at the jail\u00a0he had bipolar disorder, was on medication and under the care of a doctor, he\u00a0was left unseen by medical professionals, as required by law. He was released the\u00a0next morning, without ID, without a phone call to family or friends or a safe means to get home. Tragically, Jeremy\u2019s body was found days later in the river\u00a0which runs behind the jail. He had drowned.<\/p>\n

The tragic loss of Jeremy stunned not only my family and me,\u00a0but an entire community. My belief in a system that safeguards the lives of the\u00a0young, elderly, and those who are most ill and fragile was shattered. In the most\u00a0senseless and needless manner, Jeremy was gone and I just couldn\u2019t understand it. \u00a0Never had I felt such a deep sense of hopelessness. The optimist in me was\u00a0very troubled. There had to be something more we could do.<\/p>\n

It was in that same year that JUSTICE FOR JEREMY was established to campaign to promote positive awareness of mental\u00a0illness. We have since become an organization that provides support and resources for those affected by mental health issues, even assisting in searches for individuals\u00a0who are in a mental health crisis and have gone missing.<\/p>\n

In 10 years, what do you hope people will be saying about JUSTICE FOR JEREMY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 10 years, I would like JUSTICE FOR JEREMY to be known for playing a pivotal role in\u00a0the movement to require more training in mental health awareness for first\u00a0responders, most often law enforcement, to help identify and distinguish\u00a0behavioral issues and symptoms in those they come across.<\/p>\n

I would like people to say that JUSTICE FOR JEREMY helped change the stigma and\u00a0the general public\u2019s understanding of mental illness and how it affects every\u00a0single one of us in some way. Most of us know someone affected by mental illness, perhaps with our own family members,\u00a0co-workers, friends and other loved ones.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that in the 21st\u00a0century, mental illness is\u00a0still so misunderstood. It\u2019s a subject most people would rather not talk about,\u00a0may cause you to look the other way and believe it will never affect you or your loved ones. However, mental illness has no boundaries.<\/p>\n

In 10 years, I hope people will still remember Jeremy Lum, Mitrice Richardson,\u00a0Kelly Thomas, and all of the others who lost their lives unnecessarily, due in large\u00a0part to the ignorance and misinformation about mental illness. I hope that our\u00a0grassroots Justice For Jeremy movement will have played a huge role in bringing\u00a0forth compassion and understanding of mental illness where there was a lack of, or sadly, none.<\/p>\n

How can people get connected to and support\u00a0the JUSTICE FOR JEREMY project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more information please visit: www.justiceforjeremy.org<\/a> |\u00a0on facebook<\/a> |\u00a0by email<\/a><\/p>\n

We welcome you to our annual events. They\u2019re always a lot of fun and very family friendly. Dates for these events are on our website and announced on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Donations are gratefully accepted and may be sent to:
\n<\/em>JUSTICE FOR JEREMY LATHROP CA INC.
\nP.O. Box 1415,\u00a0Lathrop, CA, 95330<\/p>\n

Pay it forward a bit. Let us know about a couple of organizations or people who are doing good work in the world: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Two organizations that are a source of information and assistance to us are:<\/p>\n

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)<\/a>: \u201cAt the heart of NAMI\u2019s mission is our grassroots and the sharing of information with people with mental illness, their families, friends, mental health professionals, and the general public. NAMI strives to offer hope, reform and health to our American community through support, education and advocacy efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social Planet.org:<\/a> Social Planet is a philanthropic network that helps connect people with grassroots causes and projects from around the world. They do this by helping anyone find, follow and become involved with things that are important to them.Our mission is to improve the human condition and protect the natural environment -one person, one place, and one project at a time.\u00a0One unique aspect of Social Planet is that 100% of member donations go directly to\u00a0the project of their choice. At no time are donated funds used to run the organization\u00a0or other overhead expenses. Those expenses are covered by individual philanthropists and corporate sponsorship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This\u00a0Be the Change<\/a><\/em><\/strong> post is part of an ongoing\u00a0commitment\u00a0to lift-up\u00a0\u00a0fascinating who people I meet during my travels. These are folks who are doing the hard work of changing the world for the better by living out their passions and sharing their gifts. Subjects are chosen by me, so if you know of a person or project that you think is doing something that is making the world a more just, compassionate and peaceful place, please let me know.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental Health\u00a0Awareness\u00a0Month, I \u201csat down\u201d and asked her a few questions about herself, her nephew and the Justice for Jeremy Project.\u00a0Here are her responses: Who is Connie Lum Perez? By profession, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":3919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8853,814],"tags":[10108,16780,16779,16782,16781,16783,16785,16784],"class_list":["post-3914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulletin-board","category-family-community","tag-be-the-change","tag-connie-lum-perez","tag-jeremy-lum","tag-justice-for-jeremy","tag-mental-health-mental-health-awareness-month","tag-national-alliance-on-mental-illness","tag-social-planet","tag-socialplanet-org"],"yoast_head":"\nMental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-17T15:44:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-05-17T15:55:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/30\/2012\/05\/5855_102685368807_729553807_2022212_81527_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"332\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"315\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/\",\"name\":\"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-17T15:44:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-17T15:55:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8\"},\"description\":\"A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/\",\"name\":\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\",\"description\":\"Observing Life, Engaging Faith and Making Connections\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8\",\"name\":\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\"},\"description\":\"WARNING: I blog about pretty much anything: I have been known to rant about politics, opine about social media, muse about Jesus and overshare about my love of all things 80's, so please don't say you were not warned. All ideations contained in this are mine and mine alone. In no way do I represent the opinions of Patheos, my church, my family or my good friend Rufus, the 13th disciple.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/author\/breyeschow\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project","description":"A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project","og_description":"A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/","og_site_name":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","article_published_time":"2012-05-17T15:44:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-05-17T15:55:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"332","height":"315","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/30\/2012\/05\/5855_102685368807_729553807_2022212_81527_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/","name":"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-17T15:44:37+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-17T15:55:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8"},"description":"A few weeks ago, Connie Lum contacted me on Facebook letting me know about her nephew and her work\u00a0around\u00a0mental health issues. Since May is Mental","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/05\/17\/mental-health-awareness-month-and-the-justice-for-jeremy-project\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mental Health Awareness Month and the Justice for Jeremy Project"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/","name":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","description":"Observing Life, Engaging Faith and Making Connections","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8","name":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"Bruce Reyes-Chow"},"description":"WARNING: I blog about pretty much anything: I have been known to rant about politics, opine about social media, muse about Jesus and overshare about my love of all things 80's, so please don't say you were not warned. All ideations contained in this are mine and mine alone. In no way do I represent the opinions of Patheos, my church, my family or my good friend Rufus, the 13th disciple.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/author\/breyeschow\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}